Archives for November 2012

Logos 5 is here, and we’ve been thrilled by the response. Customers are loving the books, datasets, and features we’ve bundled together in our seven new base packages. Our teams have been working extended hours just to keep up with the demand.

This post is primarily for customers looking to upgrade, so if you’re new to Logos, you can skip the rest of this post and check out our Logos base packages and the features that make Logos 5 worth getting excited about.

If you’re an existing customer trying to sort out your options, keep reading. Whether your budget is large, medium, small, or nonexistent, there are several options for moving to the latest version of our Windows and Mac software. But before I outline them, I want to cover a few important points.

All-New Custom Upgrade Discount Calculator

We’ve created a brand-new custom discounting engine that takes into consideration 100% of the books and datasets you already own and gives you a corresponding discount on a Logos 5 base package. This ensures that you never pay for the same book twice. To say it another way, when we calculate your price, we factor in only the items that are brand-new to you.

The all-new Custom Upgrade Discount Calculator now allows you to qualify for special upgrade pricing even if you don’t own a Logos 4 or earlier base package. All you need to do is own one or more titles included in the package you want to buy, and you’ll get a discount for what you own (plus an additional introductory promotional discount).

If you’ve been buying individual items for years, now’s your chance to get a base package at upgrade prices.

See yesterday’s post to learn more about the Custom Upgrade Discount Calculator.

You Never Lose Any Books

Occasionally we hear from customers that the one thing holding them back from upgrading is their fear of losing books. And rightly so. Many of you have invested thousands of dollars with us. One of our top priorities is ensuring that your investment is safe. That’s why we’ve committed to making sure all your books will always work in the latest versions of our software. Even books purchased 20 years ago still work in Logos 5 today. And we’ve provided free updates to new file formats and added new tagging and functionality—again, for free.

So rest assured that when you move to Logos 5, you bring all of your existing library of books along with you, for free—and you benefit from the advances we’ve made by adding new tagging. Once you buy books, they’re yours for life. And they just keep getting better, with no additional cost to you.

Upgrading vs. Updating: Books, Datasets, and Code

Every time we release a new version of the software, we get questions about how to get it, how much it costs, what you’re getting with your purchase, and what you’re actually paying for. To help customers understand their options, we distinguish between upgrading and updating.

Upgrading costs money; updating is free.

When you upgrade, you’re paying for new books and new datasets, which enable the new features to work. You’re not technically paying for the features themselves. The features are code, and we deliver that new code as part of the engine, which is free. Many features don’t work without the new datasets, so sometimes we talk about getting new features when you upgrade, but technically you’re purchasing the datasets; the code behind the features is part of the free engine.

When you update, you don’t pay anything. Updating is free. You don’t get any new books or datasets. You get the new code with the free core engine, along with features that don’t require new datasets to work. You get free updates to the software as often as we release them. You also get regular free updates to books as we add new tagging and enhancements and fix typos. Updates to datasets—like adding more people to the Biblical People dataset—are also free.

You can summarize the differences between upgrading and updating this way:

Price

Books

Datasets

Code

Upgrading

Not Free

New and Updated

New and Updated

New and Updated

Updating

Free

Updated Only

Updated Only

New and Updated

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s get into the five options for moving to Logos 5.

Option 1: Choose a Higher Base Package

Our top recommendation for you is to move up into one of our higher base packages. So if you’re currently at Logos 4 Silver, you might want to take this opportunity to move to Logos 5 Gold. This is an upgrade in two different senses: you’re moving up from 4 to 5, and you’re moving up from Silver to Gold.

We’ve completely reconfigured our seven base packages, which means you’re getting hundreds or even thousands of new books at ~90% off what you’d pay if you bought them separately on Logos.com. Our new base packages are a book lover’s dream come true.

Our higher-end packages also include all the new Logos 5 datasets, which means if you upgrade to Gold or higher, you’ll have access to all the new Logos 5 features.

The value of our top packages is amazing, especially with our new dynamic pricing engine. But to sweeten the deal, we’re offering limited-time promotional discounts. The higher you jump, the better your discount. So in addition to applying an ownership discount based on how much of the new package you already own, we’re also applying special launch discounts that increase the higher you jump.

There’s no better value for building your library and getting access to all the new features in Logos 5—and there’s no better time than now. Remember, these opportunities to upgrade at our best discounts come around only with each new major version every few years and they don’t last long.

Pros: Best value; best discounts; tons of new books; all our new datasets and features1

Option 2: Choose Your Equivalent Base Package

If beefing up your library isn’t what you need and you don’t necessarily want all the new datasets and features, moving over to the same level you’re currently at may meet your needs. While this is also an upgrade—you’re moving up from Logos 4 to Logos 5—we sometimes call this a base package crossgrade, because you’re staying at the same package level in the new lineup.

Even though there’s not always a one-to-one match between our previous packages and our new ones, each previous-generation package basically has an equivalent Logos 5 package. This table shows our base package lineup since Logos 1 Series X, which was released in 2001, with the equivalent packages lined up in the same row.

As you can see, with Logos 5 we’ve reduced the number of packages and created a more linear lineup that doesn’t attach certain packages to people’s roles or responsibilities. We found that customers were buying the library that offered the books, datasets, and features they wanted at the price they could afford. So we merged Christian Home, Bible Study, and Leader’s into Starter. We changed the name of Scholar’s to Bronze, and we added Diamond between Platinum and Portfolio.

If you’re not able to move up to a higher package right now, the next-best option is to move across to the Logos 5 package that corresponds to your current Logos 4 (or earlier) package.

Pros: Amazing value; amazing discounts; lots of new books; all or most of our new datasets and features4

Cons: Not as many books; perhaps not all the datasets and features; prices may still be higher than some can afford, even on a payment plan

Option 3: Choose a Lower Base Package

The new Custom Upgrade Discount Calculator makes it possible to upgrade to any of our seven Logos 5 base packages, even if it’s “lower” than the Logos 4 package you currently own. As we already covered, you won’t lose anything you already have in your current base package—or anything else you’ve ever purchased from us. Your books and datasets are yours for life.

By choosing a lower-level base package, you’ll pick up all the new books, datasets, and features that you don’t currently have—and your discounted price is based only on that new content. If the package that has everything you want happens to be “below” the level you’re currently at, that’s fine.

Does that mean that a Logos 4 Gold owner who decides to purchase Logos 5 Silver has somehow been downgraded to a lower status? No. This is still an upgrade. You’re only adding new books and datasets. You’re not losing anything. You’re now a Logos 4 Gold + Logos 5 Silver owner. You won’t get as many books when you upgrade to a smaller package, and you might not get all the new datasets. But you’re not losing anything from the Logos 4 Gold package—or anything else, for that matter.

Pros: Excellent value; excellent discounts; many new books; many of our new datasets and features5

Cons: Not as many books; perhaps not all datasets and features you want

Option 4: Choose Minimal Crossgrade or Core Datasets

While most customers love the opportunity to build their libraries at unbelievable prices, some are just looking to pick up the new datasets and features in the new version of the software. To meet the needs of these people, we’ve created two new products: Logos 5 Minimal Crossgrade and Logos 5 Core Datasets.

Logos 5 Minimal Crossgrade

The Minimal Crossgrade is the perfect option for those who don’t want to grow their libraries, but want to make sure they get the best Logos 5 experience and enjoy all the new datasets and features. Most of the new features in Logos 5 are powered by one of our 10 new datasets. Minimal Crossgrade allows a Logos 4 customer to pick up all the new datasets and features in Logos 5 at the lowest possible price.

If you own a Logos 3 or earlier base package, you can also purchase the Logos 5 Minimal Crossgrade, but you’ll be missing out on some of the datasets and features that were added in Logos 4. If you don’t own a Logos 4 base package, you should also purchase the Logos 4 Minimal Crossgrade to make sure that you’re caught up with everything.

Upgrading to a Logos 5 base package and purchasing the Minimal Crossgrade aren’t mutually exclusive options. If the package that has all the books you want is missing one or more datasets and features, you have the option of buying a base package and then buying Minimal Crossgrade on top of that. This applies to Starter, Bronze, and Silver. Once you’re at Logos 5 Gold, Minimal Crossgrade won’t add anything you don’t already have.

Note: If you place your order for a Logos 5 base package and the Minimal Crossgrade on Logos.com, you’ll need to do it in two steps (base package first, Minimal Crossgrade second) to ensure that you get a custom upgrade price on Minimal Crossgrade. But if you place your order over the phone, one of our helpful sales reps can do it in a single transaction.

Pros: Great value; great discount; all our new datasets and features; a core set of books to enhance some of the features

Cons: Very few books

Logos 5 Core Datasets

One step below the Minimal Crossgrade is a new product called Core Datasets. Core Datasets allows you to get most of the core functionality in Logos 5, but lacks a few of the higher-end datasets and features in Silver and Gold and higher. For those on a tight budget with no desire for more books or the higher-end features, Core Datasets is the least expensive way into Logos 5.

Note: Minimal Crossgrade includes 100% of the contents of Core Datasets, so if you buy the former, you don’t need the latter.

Pros: Good value; good discount; most of our new datasets and features6

Cons: No books; not all datasets and features

Option 5: Wait for the Free Core Engine

We understand that not everyone wants a bigger library or needs access to the new databases that make Logos 5 really shine. In early 2013, we’ll be releasing the core Logos 5 engine for Windows and Mac as a free update for Logos 4 and earlier users. Most of the new bells and whistles that you see in the Logos 5 promotional videos require our new datasets to work, but this option will give you the new user interface and the features that aren’t dependent on datasets.

Remember, though, that the free core engine option will always be around, but the extra-special upgrade discounts won’t last forever.

Of course, if you’re not ready to move to Logos 5 yet, you can safely continue to use Logos 4. We’ll release updates to ensure you can keep using your software and books, and you can continue to download the Logos 4 engine from our installation page.

Pros: Free; a few new features

Cons: No new books; no new datasets; most new features won’t work or won’t work well

Top Products

When you buy a base package or upgrade, you’re now given the opportunity to customize your package by adding on some of our bestselling products at the best prices we’ve ever offered. Instead of choosing “Add to cart,” choose “Customize” to be taken to a screen that will show you some awesome deals. These deals are available only when you’re purchasing a base package or upgrade, so check the price and make sure to take advantage of this opportunity.

What about Pre-Pubs?

Many of you have lots of Pre-Pubs scheduled to ship over the next couple of months. We don’t want that to keep you from being able to upgrade, so we’re offering a special opportunity for you to delay any Pre-Pubs with designated ship dates, and put them all together on a payment plan. If you upgrade to Logos 5 and would like to take advantage of this offer, just send an email to sales@logos.com or call 800-875-6467 and talk to one of our friendly sales reps.

Limited-Time Discounts

During the launch promotion, all upgrades have special limited-time discounts. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to upgrade to a new Logos 5 base package at the best discounts we’ll offer!

Orders of $1,900 or more qualify for our new 18-month payment plan. [↩]

We have a new base package called Biblical Languages, which is available to members of our academic program. [↩]

Starter equips you with many of the core datasets, Bronze gives you the majority of the datasets and features, Silver give you everything except for the Bible Senses dataset, and Gold and above give you everything. [↩]

Starter equips you with many of the core datasets, Bronze gives you the majority of the datasets and features, Silver give you everything except for the Bible Senses dataset, and Gold and above give you everything. [↩]

Core Datasets includes all of the new Logos 5 datasets except for the Word Senses dataset, the Old Testament Clauses dataset, and the New Testament Clauses dataset. [↩]

If you haven’t taken advantage of our Black Friday deals yet, there’s still time! Logos’ Black Friday sale is packed with limited-time deals on our most Liked products. But you need to hurry—these discounts are available for only five more days.

Take your understanding of biblical Greek and Hebrew to the next level with this instructional resource from Logos. Learn to interpret Scripture in a simple, straightforward manner at your own pace, or refresh the Greek and Hebrew you learned in seminary or Bible college.

Learn to Use Biblical Greek and Hebrew with Logos Bible Software places the payoff of biblical language knowledge up front. There’s no rote memorization of vocabulary or grammatical forms. That’s because Learn to Use Biblical Greek and Hebrew with Logos Bible Software is designed to show you how to properly use the tools used by advanced seminarians.

Readers of the New Testament often encounter quotes or allusions to the Old Testament that may be unfamiliar or obscure. In this volume, G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson bring together a distinguished team of scholars to isolate, catalog, and comment on both the obvious Old Testament quotations and the more subtle allusions found in the New Testament. The result is a comprehensive commentary on the Old Testament references that appear from Matthew through Revelation. It’s a vital resource for the reference library of every student of the New Testament.

The International Critical Commentary, published by T&T Clark International, has long held a special place among biblical works. It brings together all the relevant aids to exegesis: linguistic and textual, archaeological, historical, literary, and theological, with a comprehensiveness and quality of scholarship unmatched by any other series. If you were to purchase all 53 volumes in print at suggested retail price, you’d pay over $2,800.

You’ll find a lot more discounted items during our Black Friday Sale.

Visit Logos.com/BlackFriday by December 3 to see the complete list of deals available, including discounts on resources like:

Logos 5 isn’t the only thing that’s new this month—our website’s updated, too. You’ve seen our blurb about the Custom Upgrade Discount Calculator at the bottom of every Logos 5 blog post thus far (including this one) telling you about special pricing. But what does that mean? Justhow special is “special pricing”?

You Get Credit for What You Already Own

The Custom Upgrade Discount Calculator takes your entire Logos library into account, and then generates a custom discount based on every Logos resource you own. That’s right: the calculator tallies it all so you only pay for what’s new to you.

What if I don’t own a base package? No problem. If you’ve only ever picked up commentaries or collections and never invested in a base package, your books still contribute to your custom price.

What about my Libronix books? No problem. The Custom Upgrade Discount Calculator factors them in.

What about my pre-Libronix books? No problem. The calculator doesn’t overlook them, even if you’re still using Logos 1.0.

What if I own part of a collection in the base package I want? No problem. You’ll see that it’s a product you partially own, and we’ll credit you for it.

What if I bought my base package at a retail location? No problem. It doesn’t matter where you got your Logos library; if you’re logged in, the calculator takes it all into account.

How to See Your Discount

Just log in on Logos.com, and then explore our seven new Logos 5 base packages. The Custom Upgrade Discount Calculator updates your price dynamically; you never have to wonder if you’re missing out on your custom discount. The price also adjusts to reflect the current pricing of resources across Logos.com; when a relevant product price changes, your custom discount changes, too.

Innovative is the perfect word to describe Logos 5. The Latin roots of the word innovate literally mean “into the new,” and with Logos 5, Logos Bible Software is making Bible study new again.

Logos includes an entire department dedicated to developing innovative content. This team’s goal is to find new ways to connect you to important biblical information. The kind of work they’re doing can’t be automated—the team combed through Scripture and isolated, tagged, and created these connections. It’s this labor of love that makes Logos 5’s cutting-edge features feasible.

The Timeline is a new Logos 5 tool of epic proportions, connecting you to the legacy of God and his people through the ages. Much more than a static list of events, it gives you new ways to interact with the books in your library.

Here are five ways to see the big picture using Timeline:

1. Connect your reading to a world of history

Hundreds of books in your Logos 5 library are equipped with the Timeline visual filter, allowing you to connect your reading to the other major events in the era you’re reading about. (Example)

2. Find your subject of study on the Timeline

Use the Timeline’s filter to cut out events irrelevant to your study. Or hit CTRL + F (PC) or CMD + F (Mac) to jump quickly to a person or event in history and see what’s happening around it. (Example)

3. Get the Timeline to follow along with your reading

When you set the Timeline to the same linkset as a book with Timeline flags, the Timeline will move you as you scroll through your book, jumping from era to era. (Example)

4. Branch out

Studying 1 Kings? Go to the Timeline and find the events of Solomon; if you find an event you want to know more about, jump into Bible Facts and find every person who was involved, find out where it took place, and see what biblical passages mention it. (Example)

The MACCS prepares you for modern ministry with the Great Books’ classical training. It teaches you how the West thinks, and why. You’ll learn from Plato, Augustine, Aristotle, Aquinas, Machiavelli, Shakespeare, Luther, Dante, Hobbes, Tocqueville, Nietzsche, Dostoyevsky, and others—all in a Christian cultural context.

Genesis to 2 Chronicles, the first volume in John Darby’s five-volume Synopsis of the Books of the Bible, provides chapter-by-chapter commentary on the first 14 books of the Old Testament. This series has played an important role in the emergence of fundamentalism and the development of American Christianity. Darby, the intellectual and theological forerunner of well-known preachers such as Dwight Moody and contemporary authors such as Tim LaHaye, was tremendously influential. From a dispensational interpretation of the Bible to the contemporary understanding of the Rapture and the End Times, the prominent features of evangelical theology are indebted to Darby’s influence.

Of the Synopsis of the Books of the Bible series, H. A. Ironside said, “I literally devoured these five volumes, giving almost every spare moment to them, so that I read them in two weeks’ time, and I think I am safe in saying that they opened up the Scripture in their comprehensiveness in a way that nothing else has ever touched.”

If you haven’t downloaded November’s free book, do it now! And while you’re on November’s free-book page, enter to win the entire five-volume Synopsis of the Books of the Bible!

Good News of Great Joy is designed specifically for Advent 2012. This devotional, which begins Sunday, December 2, and goes through Christmas Day, aims to put Jesus at the center of your holiday season. Get yours now!

But Good News of Great Joy isn’t the only way you can go deeper into the Word at no cost. Here are two related giveaways:

1. Earn Your DMin Free with the $18,000 John Piper Scholarship!

If you’ve ever thought about earning your DMin, you owe it to yourself to check out this degree program. You’ll prepare for life-changing ministry with a world-class education. You’ll do better ministry with instruction from scholars like Drs. Warren Gage, Haddon Robinson, and Samuel Lamerson. And you’ll get your own copy of the massive Logos 5 Portfolio library, which gives you the tools you need to take your ministry to new heights.

2. Enter to Win a Logos Gold Base Package!

Gold is a massive library for serious Bible study in English, Greek, and Hebrew. It offers a vast selection of resources (nearly 1,100, worth over $20,000) and Logos 5’s fast, intuitive, innovative design. Time to enter is limited—visit our Cyber Monday right now!

Today’s post is from Morris Proctor, certified and authorized trainer for Logos Bible Software. Morris, who has trained thousands of Logos users at his two-day Camp Logos seminars, provides many training materials.

A Logos user recently asked me about two Greek synonyms, kairos and chronos, both of which are translated time or times in English Bibles. His question was two-fold:

Is there a specific Logos resource that explains the differences between synonyms?

If so, how is the resource searched?

Here’s how I replied.

The resource, Synonyms of the New Testament by Richard Trench, appears in many, but not all, of the Logos base packages. Trench, in over 100 articles, discusses subtle differences between Greek synonyms.

Open a Bible containing the reverse interlinear option, such as the ESV or NASB.

Navigate to a passage containing one or both of the Greek words (kairos and chronos), such as Acts 1.7.

Right-click on the word times or seasons or epochs. (A)

Select Lemma (B)“the word.”

Select Copy. (C)

Open the Synonyms of the New Testament.

Open the Search panel.

Set Basic as the type. (A)

Select Synonyms as the book to be searched from the resources dropdown list. (B)

Click the range dropdown list, which probably says All Text. (C)

Click the arrow to the left of Search Fields. (D)

Select the search field Large Text (E) (which is the title of the article in Synonyms).

Execute a paste (A) in the search box (B), which places the Greek word there.

Press the Enter key.

Notice that Logos only searches the titles of the articles (Field Search) in Synonyms, looking for your Greek word.

Click the search hit to open Synonyms to the article about the two Greek words translated time.

You can avoid the lines, the rush, and the craze during this year’s Black Friday madness. In fact, we want you to be able to enjoy your Black Friday shopping from the comfort of your own home. With the Like-athon, we gave you the power to create the ideal sale. And with nearly 9,000 Likes across Logos.com, you told us loud and clear what you wanted to see discounted!

Thanks to your collaborative efforts, Logos is ushering in the holiday season with our most-Liked products at incredible discounts! Start your holiday shopping off right with hundreds of dollars in savings on top products like:

This decades-long project has become recognized by scholars, pastors, and serious Bible students as a critical yet orthodox commentary marked by solid biblical scholarship within the evangelical Protestant tradition.

The Tozer collection can be yours for only $195.95 with coupon code BFRIDAY7

This collection consists of 57 books written by Tozer or compiled posthumously from his sermons and editorials. In all, this astounding collection contains approximately 11,000 pages filled with the inspirational, Christ-centered words only Tozer could pen.The 57 fantastic books of this collection are priced at 50% off for Black Friday.

These are only a few of the collections we’ve marked down during the Black Friday Sale. Visit Logos.com/BlackFriday by December 3 to see the complete list of deals available, including discounts on resources like: